Low-Cost Gas Sensors Produced by the Graphite Line-Patterning Technique Applied to Monitoring Banana Ripeness

A low-cost sensor array system for banana ripeness monitoring is presented. The sensors are constructed by employing a graphite line-patterning technique (LPT) to print interdigitated graphite electrodes on tracing paper and then coating the printed area with a thin film of polyaniline (PANI) by in-situ polymerization as the gas-sensitive layer. The PANI layers were used for the detection of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including ethylene, emitted during ripening. The influence of the various acid dopants, hydrochloric acid (HCl), methanesulfonic acid (MSA), p-toluenesulfonic acid (TSA) and camphorsulfonic acid (CSA), on the electrical properties of the thin film of PANI adsorbed on the electrodes was also studied. The extent of doping of the films was investigated by UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy and tests showed that the type of dopant plays an important role in the performance of these low-cost sensors. The array of three sensors, without the PANI-HCl sensor, was able to produce a distinct pattern of signals, taken as a signature (fingerprint) that can be used to characterize bananas ripeness.

[1]  A. Heeger,et al.  Counter-ion induced processibility of conducting polyaniline and of conducting polyblends of polyaniline in bulk polymers , 1992 .

[2]  Marcos L. Corazza,et al.  Low-cost sensors developed on paper by line patterning with graphite and polyaniline coating with supercritical CO2 , 2009 .

[3]  Alan G. MacDiarmid,et al.  Polyaniline and polypyrrole: Where are we headed? , 2010 .

[4]  Eric Bakker,et al.  Perbrominated closo-dodecacarborane anion, 1-HCB11Br11-, as an ion exchanger in cation-selective chemical sensors. , 2002, Analytical chemistry.

[5]  Fernanda C. Corazza,et al.  Gas sensors development using supercritical fluid technology to detect the ripeness of bananas , 2010 .

[6]  A. MacDiarmid.  Polyaniline and Polypyrrole: Where Are We Headed? , 2010 .

[7]  S. H. Park,et al.  Metallic transport in polyaniline , 2006, Nature.

[8]  A. MacDiarmid,et al.  Sensors using octaaniline for volatile organic compounds , 1999 .

[9]  Leonardo G. Paterno,et al.  Fabrication and characterization of chemical sensors made from nanostructured films of poly(o-ethoxyaniline) prepared with different doping acids , 2008 .

[10]  P. N. Lisboa-Filho,et al.  Polyaniline/polyurethane networks. II. A spectroscopic study , 2005 .

[11]  H. S. Wolff,et al.  iRun: Horizontal and Vertical Shape of a Region-Based Graph Compression , 2022, Sensors.

[12]  Eduard Llobet,et al.  Non-destructive banana ripeness determination using a neural network-based electronic nose , 1999 .

[13]  Alan G. MacDiarmid,et al.  Line patterning of conducting polymers : New horizons for inexpensive, disposable electronic devices , 2001 .

[14]  Sergey A. Piletsky,et al.  Electrochemical Sensors Based on Molecularly Imprinted Polymers , 2002 .

[15]  A. J. Heeger,et al.  A new architecture for polymer transistors , 1994, Nature.

[16]  Hua Bai,et al.  Gas Sensors Based on Conducting Polymers , 2007, Sensors (Basel, Switzerland).

[17]  A. MacDiarmid,et al.  Line patterning of graphite and the fabrication of cheap, inexpensive, “throw-away” sensors , 2008 .

[18]  Heng Tao Shen,et al.  Principal Component Analysis , 2009, Encyclopedia of Biometrics.

[19]  B. Snopok,et al.  Multisensor systems for chemical analysis: state-of-the-art in Electronic Nose technology and new trends in machine olfaction , 2002 .

[20]  Idalia Ramos,et al.  Electric response of isolated electrospun polyaniline nanofibers to vapors of aliphatic alcohols , 2008 .

[21]  O. Ikkala,et al.  Molecular recognition solvents for electrically conductive polyaniline , 1996 .

[22]  A. Epstein,et al.  Studies on the Chemical Syntheses and on the Characteristics of Polyaniline Derivatives , 1995 .

[23]  Igor Polikarpov,et al.  Nanoscale conformational ordering in polyanilines investigated by SAXS and AFM. , 2007, Journal of colloid and interface science.

[24]  T. Märk,et al.  Breath-by-breath analysis of banana aroma by proton transfer reaction mass spectrometry , 2003 .

[25]  A. MacDiarmid,et al.  Vapor phase secondary doping of polyaniline (emeraldine salt) thin films with o-chlorophenol investigated by UV–VIS–NIR: Effects of primary dopants, substrate surfaces, and pre-treatments of organic vapors , 2008 .

[26]  Eric Bakker,et al.  Electrochemical sensors. , 2002, Analytical chemistry.